


ensconced

by glim



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Birthday, Dogs, Domestic Fluff, M/M, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-06
Updated: 2019-07-06
Packaged: 2020-06-23 14:01:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19702825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glim/pseuds/glim
Summary: Inside both their hearts and memories, sun-drenched birthday mornings that smell of coffee and newspaper ink, murmured kisses between them and the soft tickle of Bucky's hair in Steve's face. They've held this happiness inside them.





	ensconced

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Birthday, Stevie :'))

"I'll be home before you get up," Bucky says, his voice low with exhaustion. "I told you, I promise." 

"Yeah, I know. I just..." Steve bites back the sigh he wants to give, sure the sound will reveal the hollow ache in his chest. "Don't rush the mission, okay? I'm not--"

"Don't you even fucking think of finishing that sentence." 

"You don't even know what I was going to say." 

"Do I need to?" Bucky gives a quiet laugh, then lets out a sigh of his own. He sounds tired and far away, the phone connection a little tinny. "Baby, I'll be home. You go get some rest. It's just one more night."

"One more night, I know." 

"Get some sleep. I miss you, too," Bucky adds, and his voice goes a little husky. 

Steve wants to protest; he can wait up for Bucky, he can wait up the whole night and into the next day if he has to. Before he can, however, Bucky has to end the call and get back to whatever clean-up his last mission requires. So Steve lets him go, though all he wants to do it keep Bucky on the line, to listen to him give his team orders or even just to listen to the near-silent sound of his steps and breath. 

But Steve lets him go with a soft goodbye and a promise to get in bed. It's only just past six o'clock at night and sleep seems so far away at that point. Bucky's been gone for ten days now and Steve would be lying if he claimed he'd managed much in the way of sleeping any of those nights, either. 

The first few nights weren't so bad. He'd tire himself out at work, sifting through all the tasks and paperwork that seem to make up revitalizing the Avengers Initiative. Taking himself off the mission roster for an indefinite hiatus really just means he can assign himself almost any task he wants, but he never volunteers to suit up when Bucky's gone unless it's an emergency. 

For the past three days, however, his most urgent task has been to take their two dogs for a good, long run on the Compound grounds, then to fall into an exhausted heap with them on the sofa until they all decide it's dinner time. A long run, dinner, then watching tv or reading until he falls asleep on the sofa. 

Which is where Steve is now, collapsed on the sofa, freshly showered and tired after a long workout and then a run with the dogs, with two golden retrievers vying for lap space. 

"There's a whole sofa, guys," he murmurs, but that only makes both of the dogs try to cuddle up closer to him for pets and affection. 

Hammie gives Steve's phone a small, sad little glance, then shoves his head up under Steve's hand for more pets. He gives a little whine, too, and keeps nuzzling against Steve until Steve laughs at how needy and affectionate the dog is. 

"Yeah, I know. I miss him, too. Buck'll be home soon, though, I promise," Steve echoes Bucky's words to him. He's tempted to gather both dogs even closer and bury himself in their warmth and affection so he can't think about exactly how much he misses Bucky. 

"C'mon, guys. Dinner. Then we can watch a movie." 

Steve doesn't make a move to stand, though, and the dogs don't move, either, both just whuffle closer to him while Hammie begs for more pets. Eagle shifts when Steve does, though, and after a few more minutes, they all shuffle into the kitchen to get something to eat. 

He feeds the dogs first so they can eat while he heats up the rest of last night's stir-fry, then brings his own dinner into the living room while Eagle and Hammie pad after him. The dogs know exactly when they can climb back into his lap for dinner scraps and more cuddles, something Steve is pretty sure Bucky trained them to do. 

The thought brings that achy little hollow feeling back to Steve's chest and he actually presses one hand over his heart when he thinks about Bucky. God, he just misses him. He misses holding Bucky as they fall asleep, and he misses the way Bucky kisses the back of his neck before he gets out of bed in the morning, and he misses the way Bucky accidentally calls him Stevie when they're at work sometimes and he hands Steve a cup of coffee or touches his hand, then blushes when he realizes what he's said. He misses eating breakfast with his husband and reading the paper together and all those offhand, domestic moments they established together more than a lifetime ago. 

Steve tips his head back against the sofa and closes his eyes. 

One more night. 

"Okay, guys, Indiana Jones? You want to marathon a couple movies?" Steve reaches for the remote control, then shakes his head when Eagle licks his hand. 

Yeah, okay, one more night. He can do this.

*

Steve knows before he opens his eyes that Bucky is home. To say that he can simply feel his presence is probably ridiculous, but it's true, he can just _feel_ that Bucky is home.

Smiling, Steve stretches the length of his body beneath the blankets and wriggles his toes. Hammie's probably already in the kitchen or living room with Bucky, so it has to be Eagle who huffs as Steve's feet prod him. 

Steve smiles again and lingers in the moment, knowing that when he pulls himself out of bed and goes out to the--

\-- _kitchen_ , he realizes as he catches the scent of coffee brewing--

\--to the kitchen, every small, hollow sadness that nearly two weeks of missing Bucky have worn into him will be gone. 

About a minute passes before Steve realizes he's too excited to wallow in bed any longer. He sits and scrubs both hands through his hair, stretches again, and stands up. 

"C'mon, let's welcome Bucky back home." 

Eagle looks at him like he might be kidding, pricks his ears, then hops off the bed to dart to the kitchen. 

Where Bucky is sitting at the table. 

He's sitting at their kitchen table, reading the paper, waiting for the coffee to finish brewing. All the sounds of early morning surround Bucky: the quiet turn of newspaper pages, the hum of soft music, the boil and steam of coffee percolating. 

Steve gets about five seconds to wallow in that moment before Hammie raises his head and Bucky look up at the same time. 

"Happy birthday," Bucky says and puts his paper down. When he smiles, the smile touches the bright blue-grey of his eyes and he holds his arm out to tuck Steve in against his side. "And good morning." 

In that moment, Steve knows that a lifetime hasn't passed for them and that this moment isn't one dredged up from years ago, but one that they've always been living. Inside both their hearts and memories, sun-drenched birthday mornings that smell of coffee and newspaper ink, murmured kisses between them and the soft tickle of Bucky's hair in Steve's face. They've held this happiness inside them. 

"G'morning..." Steve fits himself right against Bucky's side and leans down to rub his face into Bucky's hair. The soapy-clean scent of shampoo and body wash fills Steve's senses and he nuzzles in closer to catch the warmer scent of Bucky's skin. 

"I guess you did miss me." Bucky draws Steve as close as he can against his side and holds him really tight, almost painfully tight, and he turns his head to press a quiet kiss against Steve's collarbone. 

"Too much," Steve says, with a laugh that fades into a sigh as Bucky kisses him again. 

"I was planning to bring you coffee in bed, maybe you keep you up there for a few hours, then make you breakfast." Bucky slides his free hand up Steve's bare chest and strokes warmly, then smiles when that makes Steve sigh, too. "Bring that up to bed, too?" 

"Yeah?" 

"Yeah, sweetheart." 

The touch of Bucky's hands and lips on his bare skin is teasingly warm and Steve melts right into it, still sleepy enough to want to wrap himself up in the touch and spend their day ensconced. He can remember at least a few birthdays where he spent all morning and afternoon draped over Bucky, drawing him, drawing the overlap of their limbs and the drape of the bedsheets over their bodies. To think he can have that again, that the same kind of day stretches out in front of them from sunrise to sunset--

"Coffee," Bucky murmurs against him, then laughs when Steve startles. "Let me get you a cup of coffee so you don't doze off me. Then I'll take the puppies out." 

"Then?" Steve pulls away from Bucky, but stays close as he gets up. The dogs crowd Bucky's legs, too, and Steve just laughs as Bucky tries to extricate himself, and then just gives into the ambush of affection. 

"Then I'm taking you upstairs for the rest of that birthday plan." He stands and stretches, gives Hammie and Eagle the pats and attention they long for, and pours two cups of hot, black coffee for both himself and Steve. "Unless you wanted to do something else?" 

Steve takes a sip of his coffee and lets it warm through his whole body. He hums a reply and shakes his head, then leans in to press a slow, soft kiss to Bucky's mouth.


End file.
